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+1

You ask about Word and Excel though. While there are ways of getting it to work, Openoffice.org should work just fine (and it's included with the install of Ubuntu)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf_bluejay (Post 375613)

Just a though from a linux geek:

Get a copy of kubuntu on cd, save everything important to the external drive, and install it instead. You can get the install CD free by downloading it, or having it shipped to your house for free as well (ubuntu.com)

The install is easy enough that my wife did her own laptop, just put the cd in the drive and boot the machine. You have to answer about 6 questions (your name, timezone, password, etc..) and it does the standard install with firefox, openoffice and a bunch of other stuff.

If you are planning on wiping the machine, there is not much to lose by trying. And linux doesn't require A/V software or anything like that (much like a mac). It is much quicker, and doesn't require the usual maintenance that windows does at all (spybot/AV/defrag/cleaners). Just use and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I'm a linux sysadmin, running 4,500 linux machines in a public school system. I think if a 6 year old can run it just fine, most people should be OK ;)

openoffice is available for free for mac as well.

If you're not planning to buy a new computer I'd definately just format and start from scratch. When I ran windows I'd do that every six months or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight (Post 375597)

*cough*buy a mac*cough*

+1 :mrgreen:

I'm getting a mac as soon as I can afford one.

Just a question though for PC Antivirus. I am using Shaw's Home Secure or whatever (hey, it was free..) I am wondering if anyone notices if it makes your PC run slower? I have a year and a half old Toshiba Satellite (du core, 2.4ghz yada yada yada) and I swear it runs like a piece of crap these days. Extremely slow loads on everything, slow to bootup and load, just all around slooowwww. I use my laptop for internet and MSN mainly, no gaming, not much downloading. I can't recall if my PC started going slower after the install, so I just thought I'd ask if anyone else notices this. Sorry to hijack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCDP (Post 375647)

The Free Telus AV is terrible so I would not suspect Shaw is much better. Yes AV uses a lot or RAM, thus my suggestion to upgrade RAM.

Different person/question, but note taken!

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCDP (Post 375647)

Shaw slowed mine to a crawl, big time. Uninstalled it and machine sped back up.

I have Shaw Secure as well and I'm pretty sure it's to blame for some of the performance loss. The cost of protection I guess. Shaw Secure is essentially F-Secure which they buy from the parent company under license and provide a limited number of installs for their customers. No idea which is the 'best' AV application, but I've heard of troubles with the Norton product as well, especially on Vista. I'm still running XP. I've been tempted to wipe the HD and start over, but then it's a hassle setting up the network again, all the applications, hardware, drivers.... aarrghh.

Any modern AV will have an overhead, some worse than others. Norton has been historically the worst but they say their newest version 2009 is much improved but I will never recommend Norton AV to anyone.

Grisoft.com has a free version AVG that is very good but it is buried in their website. Search their website keyword "free" or goto download.com and search for AVG there. Excellent FREE AV for home use.

I manage our corporate AV of about 150 seats. Sophos.com, excellent product. I would recommend it for any company with more than 10 computers.

Keith

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasond (Post 375621)

Interesting, so you can still run all of the same programs with Linux? Word, Excel, etc? Sounds like I could handle the install, so worth a try. Thank-you, I will do some research but definately sounds appealing. What are the drawbacks?

I have definately heard that wiping the machine is a worthwhile try, so maybe I will give it a shot. One thing I dont understand, I thought if your PC had a virus, even reloading windows will not necessarily get rid of it?

Well, It's not Word and Excel, it's OpenOffice. But it does run the same way and can read/save all your existing stuff without a problem.

As for the viruses, linux (mac's as well) can't get viruses. And I mean CAN'T. So there is a noticable speed up from not having to have AV software running all the time.

The only downsides that I have come across, are if you need a very specific program that runs on windows. Some do run just fine, but most do not. There is always a comparable bit of software, IE : no photoshop, but there is "GIMP" that is very similar. And linux software is free and easy to install. There is about 170,000 software packages available for free.

It never ceases to amaze me how much windows users limit the email they read, or what web sites they go to for fear of viruses and the like. Mac users can agree with me on this one, do whatever you want and never worry..... Once you have it running it stays that way without the usual windows re-install.